


Big Bad Wolf

by Lauren (notalwaysweak)



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-17
Updated: 2011-05-17
Packaged: 2017-10-19 15:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/202200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notalwaysweak/pseuds/Lauren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River/Jayne, lost in the woods, sharing a sleeping space. Written for <img/><a href="http://beggar-always.livejournal.com/">beggar_always</a> as part of the <a href="http://toestastegood.livejournal.com/598767.html">Five Acts</a> meme (round five).</p><p>Dedicated to Fia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Big Bad Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beggar_always](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beggar_always/gifts).



> Firefly characters belong to Joss Whedon, but I figure he won't notice if I only borrow them the once, right?

"C'mon, girl. You're tellin' me you can't find your way back to the ruttin' ship? Can't you, I dunno, use that brain of yours to track down your brother?" Jayne is sick of trudging through woods that weren't endless when viewed from atmo but in person are branches that whap him in the face and the occasional treacherous mud-slick.

River turns an annoyed look on him. "There's no connection like that." She waves a hand through the air over her head, like he's supposed to be able to see something there. "Distance breaks communication down." The look becomes a glare. "And _I_ didn't lose our radio."

Well. That just ain't fair. He didn't so much lose the radio as have trouble finding it again after the two of them took the wrong path to the rendezvous point and he kinda fell down that ravine.

Who the hell has a rendezvous in a forest, anyway? Nowhere to land a ship, too many places for an ambush. Stupid.

"You agreed to it," River says, moving to walk ahead of him, and Jayne's about to snap at her for reading his mind when he realises he's been complaining out loud.

Shit.

* * *

When twilight comes they're still lost, _Serenity_ still hasn't made an appearance, and the gorram forest still doesn't have any landmarks so far as he can see. Oh, except for that one bear carcass. He's pretty sure they've passed that twice now.

He kindles a fire and they eat freeze-dried -- something. He can't read the writing on the packaging 'cause it looks like someone translated English to Mandarin via Swahili or something, and when he asks River she just says, "Bite the wax tadpole," and laughs.

Weird girl.

They wash dinner down with bottled water. He wonders what the others are sitting down to, hopes it's a big old plate of "where the hell are River and Jayne?"

(He knows better than to think that they'd think his name first. Especially the way the doc carries on.)

An overnight campout wasn't the plan, so their supplies are minimal, but there's a tarp rolled in the bottom of his pack, so at least they don't have to lie on wet ground. River gathers leaves to pile up not too close to the fire, when she's not distracted by fireflies that are too small to be the one he wants to see doing a flyover. Jayne builds up the fire with thick chunks of wood that'll keep it going through the night. Already the temperature is dropping; once night starts falling it falls fast.

He settles himself on the tarpaulin and puts his gun handy, his pack for a pillow, and then finally his jacket as a pillow for River. She stands there like a mistrustful deer, eyes big and dark.

"I'm not the Big Bad Wolf," he growls after about two minutes. "You gotta stay warm."

Stupid thing to say to someone who's done time in a cryo chamber, but still.

River continues to eye him warily as she kneels on the tarp, the leaves underneath crackling like the fire beside them. She stretches out beside him.

"Keeping watch is traditional," she tells him.

"Out here? No way. Anything tries to sneak up on us, we'll hear it."

* * *

Nothing tries to sneak up on them, but nonetheless Jayne wakes in the dead of the night and realises that something's wrong. Despite his best efforts the fire has burned low, and River, though she's still asleep, is shivering. Jayne gets up as quietly as he can (which is not very, from a plastic tarp on dry leaves) and builds it back up again before curling himself around River and trying to warm her.

She seems so young and fragile and cold. Then she wriggles in his arms and rolls to face him, and her eyes are ancient and strong, deep with knowledge.

Her hands may be cold, but her lips are warm.

Jayne suddenly hopes that the others don't find them too soon. River might not think he's the big bad wolf, but he's pretty sure that if her brother turns up any time soon, he'd be only too happy to find an axe.


End file.
